This invention relates to a device for positioning tie plates along a railroad track and, more particularly, to a device which orients tie plates into a desired position for downstream delivery and ultimate deposit along a railroad track.
Railroad tracks comprise two steel rails transversing spaced-apart railroad ties. Atop each tie is a tie plate which connects each rail to the underlying tie. Each tie plate is generally rectangular in configuration having a field end position outside the rail and a gage end inside the rail. The width of the tie plate is defined as a distance between these ends. The tie plates can vary in dimension and weight with most tie plates having a dimension of 7¾″ (L)×14¾″ (W) and weighing approximately 23 pounds, or 8″ (L)×18″ (W) and weighing approximately 35 pounds.
One phase of railroad track maintenance is replacement of railroad ties. As such, there is a need for delivery of not only the railroad ties but also the tie plates from a storage area to locations along the railroad track. Previously, tie plates were dumped in piles along the railroad track requiring the workers to redistribute the tie plates to positions adjacent the railroad ties. Obviously, this is a very labor intensive operation which increased labor costs, work-related injuries and was not compatible with rapid, efficient railroad tie replacement. The rapidity of the railroad tie replacement is important so as to reduce the amount of down time that the tracks are unavailable for traffic.
Various devices have been proposed to enhance the operation of tie plate distribution. Such devices were relatively complex mechanisms and in some cases required a manual feed of the tie plates. Accordingly, a tie plate feeding crew was required which again raised labor costs, lead to injuries and created inefficiencies associated with manual tie replacement.
It is thus desirable to have an efficient device which singularizes tie plates from a mass tie plate supply so as to sequentially offer tie places to downstream devices in a desired orientation for ultimate placement along the course of a railroad track. The device should diminish, as much as possible, the need of workers to handle the tie plates prior to their deposit along the course of the railroad track. Also it is desirable to have a device which delivers the tie plates in a desired orientation so as to enhance the downstream tie plate replacement process.